Late Summer and early Fall is the best time to seed your yard in Minnesota, generally around Labor Day or the few weeks that follow because the weather is starting to cool down and there is a nice dew present most mornings. Another big reason is because the Spring pre-emergents have had a chance to work their way out of the soil.

As a homeowner, there are a couple of important steps you’ll need to take to prep your lawn. The first is eliminating any remaining summer weeds (oxalis, spurge, purslane, quackgrass or crabgrass). The first three can usually be taken care of with a selective herbicide that contains 2-4d and crabgrass with a selective post-emergent for annual grasses. Quackgrass, however, will need to either be pulled by hand or carefully taken care of with a non-selective like Round-Up. When using any of these products, make sure they work out of the soil within 2 weeks, otherwise you run the risk of putting down seed that will never germinate.

The second step is prepping your yard to create the best seed-to-soil contact. In patchy lawns, putting down top soil with seed is a great way to fill in bare areas and in healthy yards, dethatching or aerating first will greatly decrease the thatch and increase the percentage of seed germination.After the lawn has been dethatched or aerated, then you can put down seed. For Minnesota, Kentucky Bluegrass, fine Fescue and a perennial Ryegrass mix will suit most lawns, however if make sure to use a dense shade mix if your lawn calls for it. Red Fescue should be present in the mix for shaded lawns since it only requires a few hours of light per day. And a finally note on grass seed: pick up a quality seed that does not contain much filler. Also, stay away from the easy-seed and patching mixes because they are only meant to fill in small spaces such as pet spots.

Di-Hydrogen Monoxide. A chemical that can be dangerous in certain situations and can be found everywhere around us. This dangerous chemical is better known as H20, or water. Adding water, or a water feature to the landscape can have numerous benefits. From promoting good health and wellness, to helping with environmental conservation, here are some reasons why adding water features can be beneficial to you as a homeowner.

The fence is the simplest way to divide boundaries and to create privacy in your yard. The difficulty with fences, however, is that many municipalities only allow for the construction of fences that are 6 feet in height. This limits to the amount of privacy that can be achieved with just a fence. If you would like to have anything taller, there are a few simple ways in which privacy can be achieved. The best such way being, with plants!

From a reclaimed pallet filled with herbs to a 15-story building covered in over 10,000 plants, living walls are becoming more and more popular—and for good reason. Whether indoors or out, they offer much more than just beauty. Living walls improve air quality and increase overall well-being, but can also absorb sound and help insulate your home.

While the foliage of snakeroots can be stunning, many gardens do not have enough space for them to extend their sprawling flower stems. Now that rich burgundy-cocoa sheen is available in a tidy package, "Chocolate Shogun" Astilbe. Diminutive even by astilbe standards, its foliage reaches a mere 15" above which it sends creamy pink plumes of bloom. Grows in all of the standard astilbe locations.

Outdoor living has made a recent surge in popularity, prompting many people to ask themselves, "How could I get an outdoor living room in MY backyard?".

Minnesota seasons are ever changing and there is a degree of preparation that is necessary to enjoy your time outside. When crafting your backyard into an outdoor living space it is important to think about the functions. What do you want in your backyard? A swimming pool? Modern contemporary look? BBQ grill? Pizza oven? Planting Beds? Fireplace? After deciding what you will put in your outdoor living space, then decide how you will install it. What is important? When do you use each space? How can we make the order of events in the space seem natural? After relaxing in the porcelain surrounded hot tub, where are you going to dry off? Do you enjoy an evening cigar while watching the sunset? What kind of outdoor furniture do you imagine within the space? Do you and your honey have a drink of wine on your favorite swing at dusk when the kids go to sleep? Great backyard design becomes great not because it is close to "perfect", but because it is close to you.

So often the clean lines of steppers are lost to overgrowth or remain too severe. Sagina subulata is the perfect infill for such situations but it does not transplant very well in our climate. However it is very easy to seed in place as these before and after pictures demonstrate. The above picture was taken eight weeks after the area was seeded.

A bird feeder can be an amazing addition to any outdoor backyard living space, yet what do you do when the birds aren't the ones that are feeding? Here are some tricks to keeping pesky squirrels out of your bird feeders and keep the birds off your outdoor deck furniture.

Use squirrel-proof feeders. There are several on the market that are weight-activated, allowing birds to feed but not squirrels. Some have better features, and might last longer, but are also a bit on the expensive side. This solution might sound like it needs a landscape engineer of some sorts but in reality, you can find the bird feeder you need for your modern or traditional garden.

Use a squirrel-resistant feeder if you are budget minded. These tend to be less expensive, and are not quite as sturdy but will do the trick. These feeders will definitely slow down the seed consumption and might work if you only have an occasional squirrel, but are not truly squirrel-proof like the choices above.

Spice it up! Try mixing some spice in with your birdseed! Birds naturally process spice with no harm to their bodies, yet squirrels have a much more complicated taste palate that is sensitive to spice. Experts recommend using hot peppers (capsicum), or pepper flakes to detour those pesky rodents. The only thing to stay away from is the use of powdered hot pepper, because it is known to blow into birds eyes due to wind and keep them away from your modern house design.

Long before it became a scourge upon middle class Americans wanting to masquerade as lords and princes upon their suburban estates, the dandelion was prized for its usefulness making medicine, wine, and food. In these dreary days of March, even the most fervent dandelion hater looks forward to the emergence of this adversary.

Hidden beneath its sunny and fertile flowers are tasty leaves and a taproot that can penetrate up to 15 feet into the ground. I remember when my grandmother visited from Taiwan and strolled through our yard amazed at how successful our salad crop was! So next time you're tempted to curse this humble plant, call off the chemical attack, pick some tender young leaves, and consider making something like this: